Neil Finn reflects on 'Dizzy Heights'

New Zealand musician Neil Finn entertains the crowd before the stars walk the red carpet at the world premiere of 'The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey' in Wellington November 28, 2012. (REUTERS/Mark Coote)

Neil Finn kept it all in the family for his just-released third solo studio album, Dizzy Heights.

The 55-year-old lead singer of Crowded House (and previous co-frontman of Split Enz with older brother Tim) had wife Sharon (bass) and sons Liam (guitar) and Elroy (drums) record with him at the studio of producer Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips) in upstate New York.

“Our two boys are living in New York and my wife Sharon was playing bass on some of my demos so it just seemed like a really good opportunity to do something we actually haven’t done together before really,” said Finn, who plays Vancouver on March 29 and Toronto on April 5.

“We’ve played together in twos and threes in various things but never really all together. It was the subtext I really enjoyed. And what a hot band really! “

Finn even says it wouldn’t even be out of the realm of possibilities that fans could expect a Finn Family album – for lack of a better name – at some point.

“I would love to think we could have an even more meaningful collaboration in the future,” said Finn, whose son Liam will release his own third studio album, The Nihilist, on April. 8.

“And my brother Tim and his two kids are shaping up to be very talented musicians. There’s a lot of potential there without it being a kind of corny travelling revue.”

We caught up with Finn recently down the line from New Zealand to chat about his decision to go solo again and get his thoughts on Lorde’s infectious Royals storming the airwaves.

Q: What do you make of fellow Kiwi and 17-year-old singer-songwriter Lorde’s recent success?

A: There’s a duality to it. It’s an extraordinary event to happen and I would think at a lot of the time it’s probably really exciting and fantastic and obviously there’s a fair amount of scrutiny and attention that’s pretty intimidating for a lot of people but I wish her very well ‘cause I think she’s extraordinarily talented.

Q: Is there New Zealand pride about her success?

A: Yeah, there’s a certain madness attached to a national pride. When people can’t get enough, every day there’s something new being explored. But, on the other hand, New Zealand doesn’t have a long legacy of success in the music business. … This is so spectacular everyone’s kind of walking around going, ‘Wow,’ and high fiving each other. So there’s a bit of giddiness going on.

Q: Can you relate given the trajectory of Crowded House in the ‘80s?

A: To some extent but this is beyond anything I knew. If you look at it, on the surface of it, it’s next level s—.

Q: After the 2010 Crowded House album, Intriguer, fans might have expected another band disc but instead you decided to go solo again. When do you know which direction you’re headed in?

A: I don’t conceptualize that ‘til I’m kind of already in the process of making the songs. We did do some recording with Crowded House and there is actually a few songs in the works there but for some reason these other songs that I was making at the time and pursuing a different path, demanded to be finished. So therefore it became a solo record.

Q: Where exactly are Fridmann’s studios located?

A: It’s near a town called Fredonia, it’s also near Lily Dale, which is kind of the witchcraft capital of the U.S. in that there’s this beautiful little town that every second house has got a palm reader’s sign in the window, they have seances. It’s serious black magic, or white magic, let’s say, going on up there.

Q: Did the vibe affect the recording of Dizzy Heights, which is pretty adventurous sounding?

A: There was some curious scenes after midnight. We kept catching a glimpse of Liam out in the woods, completely naked, at about three in the morning with a flashlight. So I don’t know what in the hell he was doing but I’ve got a feeling it has something to do with Lily Dale.

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